If we have a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, and a Democratic

[phylny]

president, what would you like them to accomplish (in addition to rectifying the damage done by this corrupt administration)?

Here's my incomplete list:

1) Universal, single-payer healthcare (Medicare for all).
2) Supreme court nominees must be brought up for confirmation within 3 months of a president's nomination.
3) Make election days a national holiday; require all states to have a paper ballot/trail (if read by computer).
4) Overturn Citizen's United/make a law that any entity that contributes to a campaign or PAC has a dollar limit.
5) Write law for citizenship for all DACA recipients.
6) Fix our immigration/asylum systems and allow give a green card/other legal papers to people who come here to work.

Are these feasible? Can they be done legislatively?

[elleng]

1. undo all the crap trumpsters getting us into

[Quemado]

5. +1

Yes! Undo everything since the moment Trump was sworn in!

[c-rational]

2. Yes, all of the above, plus a $15 minimum wage, a 4 trillion dollar infrastructure project over

10 years, paid for with a tax on stocks and financial companies, a revised tax law taxing income over 10 million at 50% and anything over 50 million at 90%, bringing back the estate tax, institution of national service, and a Manhattan Project to tackle energy and global warming. Oh, and a reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine with violators subject to severe fines and mandatory jail terms for people who lie on TV. Regarding Citizens United I would rewrite the law so no corporation could be considered an individual with respect to politics. I would call it the Anti-Roberts Law .

[phylny]

9. Excellent ideas! I like the Fairness Doctrine being reinstated. n/t

[trueblue2007]

23. REPAIR OUR COUNTRY !!!! 4 trillion dollar infrastructure project

[Wwcd]

3. Umm..that was Hillary Clinton's platform.

Glad to see its finally getting the approval it should have had in 2016.
We wouldn't be fighting for it again, now.

Gee thanks.

[phylny]

7. Wow, I didn't know about her wanting to have Supreme Court judges

confirmed within 3 months. Must have missed that in her platform.

Thanks to YOU, I know now!

[Wwcd]

21. Glad to be of help!

[phylny]

22. You were! How was she going to accomplish that, if I might ask? ETA:

I did a search for her position on Supreme Court justices and nominations, but came up with nothing.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

4. Initiate Corporate Reform.

Seems wayyyy too easy to hide criminal activity by setting up sham corps.

Standardized Grid-like voting districts to avoid gerrymandering. Should be able to see a district immediately as gerrymandered just bc of it's shape. (usually you can, it just shouldn't be allowed.)

Deregulating MJ as a Schedule 1 drug.

Abolish right to work laws.

Sentencing Reform

to add a few more...

[phylny]

13. Abolishing right to work (for less) laws are important, great idea. n/t

[RandySF]

6. My list

1. Kill the filibuster. Put it out of its misery.
2. Health Care:
a. Fully fund the ACA and add a public option in the short term while the begin the process to
b. take Medicare away from the states and provide to every American.
3. Push a Constitutional Amendment that overturn Citizens United
4. Reintroduce or extend the deadline the the Equal Rights Amendment.
5. Pass a DREAM Act.
6. A MASSIVE public works project that upgrades public transportation, gives me bullet trains to ride and restores the Gulf Coast.
7. Require paper ballots for federal elections.
8. A permanent ban on assault weapons.
9. Pass a new civil rights bill that includes the LGBT community.
10. Enshrine voting rights into the Constitution.

I could go on all night.

[phylny]

11. I like your list.

Plus, I forgot (wrt voting) about voting rights and Constitution.

[unblock]

8. Can't overturn citizens united by mere legislation

Need a new court decision to reverse it.

[phylny]

10. Okay, that's the kind of thing I wasn't sure about. Thanks. n/t

[walkingman]

14. I'm thinking that "Campaign Finance Reform" could?

[unblock]

16. The courts would strike down any part of it that violated citizens united

Unless the court is willing to overturn citizens united, or at least to modify it.

[Hekate]

12. So, basically what President Hillary wanted to get done?

At this point, I want Trump and all the rest of them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Meanwhile, it's 2018, so GOTV.

[phylny]

17. Sure, plus anything else you'd think of that you might want to add.

Which was the point of my post.

[unblock]

15. Can't really do anything permanent about justice nomination process

It's all down to senate rules and practice.

We could change the senate rules and be good guys about it, but there's no way to prevent the next republican senate majority from being jerks. They could change the rules back, go nuclear if need be, or simply hold a confirmation vote and just automatically reject any nominee without a hearing anyway.

There's really no way to force republicans to be reasonable.

[phylny]

19. That's a shame. I was thinking of a way to prevent another stolen seat. n/t

[unblock]

25. As long as senate approval is required, they'll have ways to withhold that approval.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

31. how about boycott the vote in congress or refuse to vote.

Make the sgt at arms go and find every one. filibuster for months.

[unblock]

42. We should do what we can, but ultimately a minority can't prevent the majority

from doing something they're determined to do.

Really the only leverage is dealmaking, if there are other presidential or legislative things that could be traded for a confirmation....

[sarcasmo]

18. Tax Religion.

[phylny]

20. Religion or churches? Or both?

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

32. Thats a good one.

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Expand the court to 11 or 13 and pack it with 40 year old Rhodes Scholar flaming liberals.

[phylny]

26. I actually love the idea of expanding the court, as FDR was pondering.

I wonder, too, about the idea I've heard before to give justices over the age of 70 (for example) one, combined vote, so four justices over the age of 70 count as one vote, not four.

[Stinky The Clown]

43. There are professions where age is often an asset

When a person's "product" is intellectual, age is not a determinant of ability to perform. Intellectual acuity is the determinant. In some 60 year olds, intellectual acuity is gone. In some 90 year olds, intellectual acuity is their strongest trait.

[phylny]

48. Oh, yes - I'm 60.

I think the thought behind this was to mitigate damage by court packing that might affect the country for generations, since it’s a lifetime appointment.

[RDANGELO]

27. For that to be possible, I think that the people would have to be really angry at the republicans,

but there is already the stiffing of Garland to build on.

[dalton99a]

55. +1. We can't undo the damage without court expansion.

[phleshdef]

28. Not sure I understand number 2

[phylny]

29. I was thinking of a way to avoid a stunt like McConnell not allowing President Obama

to fill Scalia's seat by having a time limit within which the Senate would be required to hold hearings.

[phleshdef]

40. Oh never mind. I misread it. Makes total sense.

[GReedDiamond]

30. Plenty of good suggestions here and in the replies...

...but I would add:

Raise the cap on what the "rich" pay into Medicare/Social Security.

Legalize cannabis at the federal level.

Enact a REAL war on "the opioid crisis."

Repeal the GOP tax scam legislation.

Slash the budgets for the Pentagon/Military Industrial Prison Complex.

Outlaw private, for profit prisons.

etc

[phylny]

34. Oh, raising the cap! Perfect! n/t

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

35. All good.

[Blue_true]

33. Great, again key contributors have been forgotten about.

President Obama and a democratic Congress did wonderful things for two years, and got ripped apart be the far left for silly things like not jailing Bankers who had not comitted crimes for which there were laws violated, the attacks were over silly shit. Then came the 2010 debacle as the far left pissed publicly on democrats and advised people not to vote (how fucking stupid can someone get, not voting insures election of people that are truly going to fuck the far left).

We can get a Congress and a President, but unless we stand behind them and vote for them, there is only so much they can do. I am not saying accept bad policy, I am saying get heard but not in a destructive way.

[PoliticAverse]

36. Supreme court nominees must be brought up for confirmation within 3 months of a ... nomination

Absent an amendment to the constitution that would just be a Senate rule that could just be changed by
another Senate.

[phylny]

37. Of all the things McConnell has done, and he's done horrible things,

denying President Obama the opportunity to fill that seat was the one that I hated the most. I hope he's implicated in this Russia mess. I really do.

[Patterson]

38. Use computer algorithms to stop gerrymandering. Make it illegal to suppress someone's right to vote.

[Flaleftist]

39. End gerrymandering and Citizens United, improve education

The closer to 'one man one vote' and an informed population we are, the better off we will be.

[RainCaster]

41. Restore habeus corpus

Let's undo the damage of the last Repug prez.

[0rganism]

44. track down every damn thing Trump and his Vichy congress did and reverse it

every executive order -- undo it
every ridiculous edict -- retract it
every asinine diplomatic fiasco -- apologize to our allies and try to repair relations
every corporate whore deregulatory move -- re-regulate them
every half-assed judicial appointment -- remove and replace as many as possible
the white house and capitol building -- fumigate them
the dignity of the office of president -- refurbish it

[WillowTree]

45. #3 not completely possible.

Making election day a national holiday could be legislated, but the Feds can't dictate to the states how they will run elections.

[SkyDancer]

46. Here is my list

1) Full funding for our National Parks, National Monuments & Public Lands. Reverse ALL damage Trump has done to such things such as shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, among others. Rescind ALL drilling permits. Dedicate Colorado National Monument a National Park.

2) A living wage going beyond $15/hr to $22/hr.

3) Universal Basic Income which is a living wage.

4) Tuition free college.

5) Complete forgiveness of ALL student loan debt.

6) Rescind all hunting permits with species like Grizzly Bears & Wolves.

7) Stack the SCOTUS immediately. This must be one of the first things which is done. There is no limit to the amount of justices you can have. Appoint 6 new judges.

8) Green New Deal. Move away completely from fossil fuels.

9) Bring tax subsidies back for EV's.

10) Massive federal oversight of all police departments across the country.

11) Constitutional amendments protecting LGBTQ people and reversing CU.

12) Ending lobbyists money.

13) Allow not only the importation of Canadian prescription drugs but once again allow Canadian pharmacies to do business in the United States and allow them to open up shops.

14) Reparations for AA's and Native American's.

15) Strengthen education in the fine arts. Rescind all damage done to the National Endowment of the Arts and National Education Association.

16) Make the EPA strong again by appointing activists to head it.

17) A massive housing program which aims to completely end homelessness in this country. We built the national highway system, it's time to build "shelter for all".

18) Infrastructure which goes beyond bridges and roads and brings us into the 21st century. "Broadband everywhere" as an example.

19) Examine and possibly implement a nationwide internet which anybody can access anywhere.

20) Flint, Michigan. Fix it immediately.

21) The legalization of cannabis.

22) Decriminalize all drug use and instead of incarcerating people, treat their addictions.

23) End the opioid crisis, make it law that every law enforcement agency and first responders MUST carry Narcan.

24) End all the wars we are involved in, even by proxy like Yemen.

25) Cut financial ties with Israel and recognize Palestine has a right to its own state.

26) Sweeping immigration reform & abolish ICE. Give all undocumented people amnesty immediately.

27) Election day needs to be a national holiday. All voting done by paper ballots.

28) High speed rail everywhere, all across the country.

29) Regulate airlines again.

30) Prosecute Wall Street.

There are more but I figure 30 is enough. I know not everybody will agree with me but these are my ideas and what I would like to see happen. Your mileage of course will vary.

[phylny]

49. Wow, very thoughtful list! Thanks! n/t

[MichMan]

51. Sounds like the Christmas list I gave Santa when I was a kid

UBI of $45K a year? Eliminate all student loan debt and free college? Reparations? Every single person crossing the border undocumented automatically gets amnesty and a UBI of $45K? How are those even remotely feasible ?

If indeed UBI is at that level, why would all the others even be necessary? People should be able to afford all of those.

Not to even mention if UBI is $45K and minimum wage jobs pay the same $45K, who do you think is going to work doing them?

[SkyDancer]

56. How Ron Paul of you.

No offense but this is right out of the Republican and Libertarian playbook ---

Not to even mention if UBI is $45K and minimum wage jobs pay the same $45K, who do you think is going to work doing them?

The old stigmata and sterotype of "people on welfare are lazy and don't want to work" rears its very ugly head.

[briv1016]

47. Keep in mind, if by some miracle we win back the Presidency in 2020

we'll still have a far right SCOTUS for the rest of most our lifetimes. (Myself included and I'm only 30) Kennedy is not likely to be the last Justice Donald replaces.

[TheFarseer]

50. can we put the taxes back where they should be?

And fix the tax code so Bain Capital can't borrow money to take over a company and then transfer that debt to that company - also so they can't dodge taxes by setting up a PO Box in the Cayman Islands and Carried Interest and on and on with the tax dodges these parasites use.

[MichMary]

52. Uh huh

I hate to burst your bubble, but . . .

Remember what happened two years after President Clinton introduced healthcare? RED WAVE!!! We lost the Senate and the House.

Remember what happened two years after PBO introduced the ACA? RED WAVE!!! We lost the House and very, very nearly lost the Senate, which we did lose four years later, and overall, the loss of 1000 legislative seats nationwide.

If even one of the bolder proposals I see here was actually passed, it would mean the loss of Congress and the stalling of a progressive agenda within two years. Maybe less.

There are enough actual voters in this country who don't want to see universal healthcare, or free college, or packing the court, or citizenship for Dreamers, etc. to bring this agenda to a screeching halt.

[phylny]

54. My bubble isn't burst.

I just wanted to see people’s progressive ideas. We can dream.

[tomp]

53. first, guarantee security and fairness of the electoral process...

...including paper trail, eliminate gerrymandering and registration problems, and eliminate all arbitrary deadlines to settling election discrepancies.

Institute a major aggressive DOJ assault on corruption in politics and business. The trials against trump, inc and all its connections alone could take many years, but no stone should be left unturned. I do not want anything like obama letting bush/cheney/halliburton/etc, inc off the hook.

Save the fucking environment.

House the homeless.

Put people to work at all the jobs that need doing, infrastructure, etc.

Just for a start.

[Squinch]

57. Jobs 1,2, 3 and 4: Reunite the kids with their parents, overturn Citizens United, redistrict

to eliminate gerrymandering, mandate paper ballots hand counted in all jurisdictions.

[beaglelover]

58. #1 Priority - Medicare for All